523

Okay, now the basic origin of Zanpakutou is explained but it leaves a hole as to where the heck did Ichigo get his and/or how did he reach Shikai with it if it was originally Rukias. And how the heck was his sword oversized from the start if it needs time to imprint and personalize the basic "stock" Asauchi into your own, named Zanpakutou? I feel we are going in circles.

I found the part with the 2 Kenpachis to be nice, though. Heh, finally the name "Retsu" is actually visible.

Edit: Even if we could accept that Ichigo's weird ass powers somewhow circumvented all the normal rules that were just given, it still wouldn't make sense that his sword is Rukias. As Kaitentsuki points out below, Ichigo is still using the same sword. It was never completely lost. If that was Rukias, then she should have started over with a new basic Asauchi after the SS-arc and her getting back to a Shikai so fast from a stock sword should not be possible by what was just given. She is not an Ichigo-grade special case.

Eh, maybe Isshin had stuck an Asauchi to his soul sometime in the past or something. That would be the least nonsensical explanation.

Double edit: Just realized a little something. Isn't this the first time Zaraki actually starts a fight without his eyepatch? He even had it on when he initially attacked the fake Bach, though I think he didn't have it on when we were shown the aftermath.

All soul reapers have one even the ones that don't have shiki's so maybe they are just forged as normal swords and level up with the user. Ichigo could have been using rukia's this whole time. It may have transferred ownership to ichigo and transformed into a sword that was at his level and not rukias

I made this post in the discussion for chp 522 and I still stand by it. Maybe when you transfer powers like they did in the beginning the sword transfers with it and that is why it is illegal. Don't want none shinigamis to have zanpaktous.

But the guy said he created them, and Rukia still has hers so it is really kinda impossible for Ichigo to have obtained an asauchi through that way, unless the sword just magically appears when someone transfers their powers, and when he lost his power his sword should have disappeared if the sword transferred with the power, yet his sword just evolved to a permanent shikai state

It might have cause it's never in a scabbard, and always active. Chances are the process in which Ichigo became a Shinigami affected his form and everything else with it. He's always been an Anatoly to S.S and the Gotei 13 in general anyway.

As for Kenpachi and Unohana.... Just wow is all I can say, it kind of makes me want to say why weren't they like this during the Aizen war?

________________"I'm not telling you to always do whatever you want. I'm saying you should do just as many things you want to do as things you don't want to do. That's what life's about."Read on: |http://batoto.net|

Mmm, unfortunately that sounds likely. Too bad, really. I wanted to see Unohana bust up some Sternritter.

But just to be "that guy"... Arguably, Zaraki already has a Shikai. After all, his sword has always been in the unsealed state.

Edit: Actually, wtf. The flashback showing the first meeting of the baby-Yachiru and Zaraki showed that he already had that sword back then. How the hell did a random street-killer get his hands on a Zanpakutou if they are only issued upon entry to Shinigami Academy?

You can argue that the random thugs in rukongai aren't using Zanpakutou (and if they are, double-wtf. Aren't they supposed to be precious tools made by an über-masterblacksmith?), but a Shinigami captain should really have one, no matter what, but clearly the sword is the same from back then.

Quote from FormX

I think you are reading into the newly introduced Asauchi too much at this stage.

Naturally, but speculation is easy and it fills the time. Plus the concept itself is reasonable. It is just introduced very late in the game, when plenty of what came before contradicts heavily with it.

Is it just me, or does Fighter Unohana look a little too much like Nnoitra? Granted, there aren't those creepy teeth, but the character design is pretty much the same. It's a shame they've signaled her impending death... it would be nice to know, well, anything about the myriad history we're missing and Kubo's pulling out of his butt.

As for the zanpakutou thing, the same can be said about Ichigo. Did he steal his father's (Isshin's... I'm not entirely convinced about the whole Juhabach Chapter 514 thing)? And if so, why doesn't his "soul imprint" change it at all? It makes no sense at all.

EDIT: I'll call it right now though, Unohana will "die," only to show up in a critical moment of the battle having used some uber-healing technique that nobody knew she had because she has yet to heal a single character on the page.

EDIT2: And one more thing while I'm thinking about it, if she's "the greatest criminal in the history of soul society," why did they give her not one but two captainships, instead of throwing her in prison like Mayuri? It seems what Kenpachi says is correct... you're only a criminal if you lose.

well at any rate im going to say that we will find out that Yachiru is infact Kenpachi's Zanpakutou and that only Unohana and Genryu knew about it.

What am i basing this on u might ask? We find out that Kenpachi meets Yachiru after a massive battle he had and just woke up to find her as if out of nowhere. He also is the 1 that names her.

We have also been shown that Shinigami have the ability to manifest their Zanpaktou and other Shinigami can see it too. So ill go out on a limb and say that Yachiru has been manifested this ENTIRE time and to all but the 2 i mentioned she is simply a Lieutenant under Kenpachi.

It would explain why we have never seen her fight IMO. Last but not least we see him try and talk to his Zanpaktou following the battle with Ichigo to which it didnt reply? Because she was next to him the whole time.